Rating: Dig It

If you’re a Wii owner who coincidentally happens to enjoy playing “hardcore” games as compared to the casually focused mire of titles currently available, then you’re probably starving for premium entertainment right now. Thankfully, MadWorld, published by Sega and developed by upstart developer, Platinum Games, will be right up your spike-laden, blood-drenched alley.

Visually, the game is set up like the graphic novel, Sin City, where the only colors used are black, white and a ton of red. The premise is quite similar to the 1987 film, The Running Man. You control a guy who has to survive while progressing through a violent game show in which contestants have to kill each other to advance. In terms of gameplay, you earn huge amounts of points by progressing and the fastest way to do so is to maim your foes as much as possible before killing them in the most brutal way.

It’s in that aspect that the game shines, since there are gobs of ways to eviscerate enemies, like impaling a sign through the head of one and setting another onto a floor spike, ass first, so that it penetrates right through his body. The bosses that you fight in every stage, ranging from an ice-skating cowboy to a sexy vampire vixen, are also all brilliantly unique, making for a — for the most part — entertaining and engaging gaming experience.

The term, “for the most part,” is there because of one HUGELY annoying aspect in MadWorld. That caveat is that the camera can only be maneuvered by constantly pressing the C button to put it behind your character. That, coupled with the fact that the lock on is rather loose, can get frustrating quickly. Other than that, if you’re itching for a bloody fun time on the Wii, you seriously need to try MadWorld.